Serbia beat Croatia at European Water Polo Championship

Serbia beat Croatia at European Water Polo Championship

Fans who gathered for the opening greeted with whistles and boos the mention of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali. Sports and Youth Minister Vanja Udovicic thanked these officials during the opening ceremony for helping to organize the event.

The reaction of the audience was the same when President Tomislav Nikolic declared the tournament open - though Nikolic reacted by waving back at them.

The men's championship dates back to 1926 and the event in Budapest and is held for 32nd time, while women started competing in 1985 in Oslo so this is their 16th tournament.

Serbia, as the successor to Yugoslavia, has 20 medals in the men's category (six gold, nine silver and five bronze medals), after the top ranked Hungary with 23 medals (12-6-5), while in the women's category the Italians are the best with five gold medals out of eight.

The European Water Polo Championship runs from January 10 to 23.

Serbia better than Croatia

Serbia's men's national water polo team beat Croatia 13-6 (3-1, 4-2, 5-1, 1-2) in the European Water Polo Championship in Belgrade's Kombank Arena late on Sunday, making a perfect start to its title defense campaign.

In front of 11,500 supporters, Serbia defeated the reigning Olympic champions without difficulty, justifying the role of top favorites in the quest for a third consecutive European gold.

With three goals each, Dusan Mandic and Andrija Prlainovic lead the scoring for Serbia, Stefan Mitrovic netted twice, while Andjelo Setka scored two goals for Croatia.

Serbia will face Malta in the next round on Tuesday, while Croatia will play France.

In other matches of the first day, Russia's women's team dealt a massive defeat to Turkey - 29-0. In the same competition, Greece was also convincing against Portugal (27-3) while the Netherlands beat Hungary 14-10.

In men's competition, Spain defeated Slovakia 13-4, France was better than Malta (17-7), while Montenegro beat the Netherlands (13-6).